CHARLOTTE — A Charlotte man said perpetrators including adults and juveniles, tried to carjack him before another suspect opened fire, hitting his car multiple times. Police have arrested the suspected driver and said they know who the gunman is, but he has not been taken into custody.
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Tashona Rawls, 28, is behind bars charged with attempted first-degree murder and a list of other felonies.
In June, police said Rawls, another adult and three juveniles, tried to carjack the man who was test driving a car.
One of the suspects shot multiple times into that victim’s car.
The victim told Channel 9 that he is relieved at least one arrest has been made.
Caleb McIlwain Sr., 29, pulled into a church parking lot on Tom Hunter Road while test driving the Chevy Equinox.
Another car cornered him.
McIlwain said that’s when three juveniles jumped out the car and tried carjacking him.
“They were just yanking on the door,” he said.
A man got out of the car and started shooting when the kids attempt at carjacking McIlwain failed.
Multiple rounds hit the victim’s car with one coming close to his head, so he stomped on the gas pedal and got away.
“It could have been anybody in this parking lot,” McIlwain said. “There was literally people sitting outside out of their homes who were seniors and kids that just got off the bus. So, it really could have been way worse.”
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department caught Rawls Thursday and arrested her.
Investigators said she was the driver of car with the alleged carjackers.
Rawls gave away the prime suspect’s name through in-jail house phone calls.
CMPD believes they know who the shooter was, but Channel 9 is not naming him yet because he has not been arrested.
The prime suspect was arrested during an unrelated traffic stop after the shooting. Police said he is a convicted felon and had a pistol on him. He bonded out. Ballistics came back tying that pistol to the attempted carjacking.
“I genuinely ask God that everybody that was involved just let them get caught,” McIlwain said.
Rawls was also charged with three counts of discharging a weapon in a moving vehicle.
It’s unclear if the kids were caught.
VIDEO: Man shot at during test drive says teens tried to carjack him
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